Meet the new UCF med school's class of 2013

Many forces have helped shape the Orlando area during the past 40 years — from the opening of Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando to the landing of a pro-basketball franchise.

On Monday, an event of equal magnitude will occur when a group of students starts classes at the University of Central Florida's new medical school — the centerpiece of a developing "medical city" that could help redefine Orlando's culture and economy.

"I'm about as excited as you can be with just a bit of anxiousness," founding Dean Deborah German said of the students' impending arrival. "I can't wait for them to get here."

The first 40 future doctors — the lucky ones getting a free medical education thanks to community-funded scholarships — comprise a diverse group. They come from as near as Orlando and Lake Mary, to as far away as Nigeria, Romania and Albania. Besides being top students, their life experiences also set them apart from the state record-breaking 4,300 applicants.

There's Virgil Secasanu, a Georgia native and Georgia Tech graduate who has helped develop six medical devices, including one that treats a cardiac disorder.

Keith Connolly, a Norfolk, Va., native who attended Michigan State, was once a Navy submarine officer. And he has sipped from the Stanley Cup.

Jennifer Villavicencio of Miami, who studied neurology at the University of Miami, started volunteering in hospitals at age 13.

Rober Skinner of Jacksonville, a University of Florida grad, comes from a sometimes impoverished family and now relishes being able to go to school without financial strain for the first time in his life.

William Kang of Welsh, La., and a music major at Louisiana State University, as a kid played violin for nursing-home and hospice patients.

And there's Johnathan Gullet, the Orlando native with a master's from the University of Florida who put his life on hold to help care for his ill grandfather. It was during that time he came to realize he wanted to be a doctor.

Students will be welcomed to the medical profession today during a campus ceremony not open to the public, but anyone with a computer can watch a live webcast at 9 a.m. Monday at med.ucf.edu.